• Graff Advertisement is the business initiative of Jose Juan Echeverri, graduate and now teacher of the International Business program at Universidad EAFIT (Medellín, Antioquia).
• His company uses cultural expressions such as graffiti and turns them into a flashy advertising medium that allows interaction with the public.
A few weeks ago, an agreement took place between Parque del Emprendimiento and some universities of the city such as EAFIT, Pontificia Bolivariana and Universidad de Antioquia to strengthen the entrepreneurial culture in higher education. On this event, representatives of each institution signed the agreement, but this time it was not signed on paper as usual but on graffiti.
The organizers sought to launch the project using something attractive, and what better idea than to make it through one of the companies that is part of the agreement? In this case, Graff Advertisement, a company dedicated to street art advertising founded by José Juan Echeverri Restrepo, graduate and now teacher of International Business at Universidad EAFIT was the chosen one.
For this occasion José Juan chose one of the most requested services of the business, collaborative graffiti, an activity in which the public interacts with the artists where they get to be part of the work at the same time.
This company, which began operations in May 2012, has several lines of work, divided between analog and digital developments: the first one is based on graffiti as an expression for new and striking experiences and brand launches, also for expectation campaigns, merchandising and illustration, and design.
The second line of work is focused on the technological possibilities of street art. The company created a mobile application that allows the user to make a graffiti on a photograph. "This way, someone can take a picture, then write the message and choose the font, color, position and place where they want to write," explains José Juan.
The beginnings
While riding a bike on the street, Jose Juan saw a wall so spacious and perfectly located to attract attention of people that he could not help thinking how advertisers could benefit from it.
This is how he came up with his business idea. He thought that this was the best way to turn the walls of the city profitable and somehow formalize a practice as persecuted as graffiti. A win-win situation.
So he teamed up with Jorge Moreno, a school friend, and the work began. The first was contacting several graffiti companies, and this way their first activity emerged: an open call for young people who were part of the hip-hop and graffiti movement in Medellin for the creation of the company logo.
In this call they also met their third partner, Jorge Acosta, a young man from San Javier, graffiti artist and graphic designer, who became the creative director of the company.
Currently the company has a fourth member, Jonathan Cordova. Together they are looking to explore all possible expressions of street art and turn these into a profitable and replicable business in the short term.
Meanwhile they continue to work on their creations, but later they expect to venture into the digital business, knowing that it is in this area where all the potential resides.
They also seek to consolidate one of the activities in which they see greater opportunities: the intervention of facades. "When you go through a commercial or industrial area you only see gray walls and simple advertising. Our idea is that companies can start taking risks and dare to present their messages using more exciting techniques such as graffiti", says the entrepreneur.
Contact information
Marcela Olarte Melguizo
Journalist Information and Press Area
Telephone:
574 2619500 Ext. 9931 Mobile: 3113547204
Email:
molartem@eafit.edu.co